Deutsche Bank fined 23.8 million HKD by Hong Kong regulator for administrative fee violations and incorrect risk ratings.

Hong Kong's Securities and Futures Commission has fined Deutsche Bank 23.8 million Hong Kong dollars (approximately 2.6 million euros) for violating regulations between 2015 and 2023. The violations include excessive administrative fees and incorrect risk ratings for certain products. Deutsche Bank was not immediately available for comment.

Hong Kong's Securities and Futures Commission (SFC) has fined Deutsche Bank HK$23.8 million (approximately $3.05 million) for regulatory breaches spanning from 2015 to 2023. The violations include overcharging clients on management fees, incorrect assignment of product risk ratings, and failure to disclose investment banking relationships in certain research reports [1].

The SFC stated that the disciplinary action resulted from investigations triggered by self-reports submitted by Deutsche Bank between December 2020 and December 2023. The bank has since resolved the issues and strengthened its internal controls to prevent recurrence [2].

The overcharging of clients, totaling approximately $39 million between November 2015 and November 2023, was attributed to the bank's failure to apply discounted management fee rates and inaccuracies in fund valuations leading to excessive custodian and management fees [2].

Additionally, Deutsche Bank failed to disclose its investment banking relationships with various Hong Kong-listed companies in 261 single stock company reports and 1,590 industry reports issued between September 2014 and September 2021. Furthermore, the bank incorrectly assigned lower product risk ratings to 40 exchange-traded funds, resulting in 10 transactions exceeding clients' risk tolerance levels [2].

This fine follows a similar disciplinary action against Deutsche's competitor HSBC, which was fined HK$4.2 million for failing to properly disclose investment banking relationships in more than 4,200 research reports published between 2013 and 2021 [2].

References:
[1] Reuters. (2025). Deutsche Bank fined HK$23.8 million by Hong Kong securities regulator. Retrieved from https://www.reuters.com/sustainability/deutsche-bank-fined-hk238-million-by-hong-kong-securities-regulator-over-2025-08-28/
[2] TradingView. (2025). Deutsche Bank fined HK$23.8 million by Hong Kong securities regulator. Retrieved from https://www.tradingview.com/news/reuters.com,2025:newsml_L1N3UK09D:0-deutsche-bank-fined-3-million-by-hong-kong-securities-regulator/